If You Find It Hard To Do This One Thing, Science Says You Probably Make Really Smart Decisions
PeopleImages | Shutterstock Do you ever get flustered when deciding what to eat for dinner? Some people might call you indecisive, but turns out, your struggle to make a decision actually means when you make one, it's the smart one! There seems to be a direct correlation between making smart decisions and taking a long time to make decisions in the first place.
In a study published in Personality and Individual Differences, researchers sought to understand how people make decisions by asking participants to rate themselves on a number of statements. From their responses, researchers were able to deduce the kinds of people who make smart decisions.
Science says you probably make really smart decisions if you find it hard to make a decision at all.
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Some of the statements that participants were told to rate themselves in regard to included "My thoughts are always contradictory," "I often find there are pros and cons to everything," "I often feel both sides of a position pulling me," and "I often find my thoughts and feelings are in conflict when I think about a topic."
The more those statements resonated with a participant, the more likely they were to be high in what psychologists called "trait ambivalence." While in business, being a decisive person was said to correlate directly with success; scientists found that trait ambivalence has many upsides, especially when it comes to making decisions.
People with high trait ambivalence are more likely to focus on behavior rather than the person.
In a study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, a two-step process that involved guessing was posed to participants. They had to answer whether a person they just met was introverted or extroverted by asking them one of two questions: "Do you like going to parties?" and "Do you like spending time alone?"
Well, people high in trait ambivalence tended to choose the second question and were more likely to come to the right conclusion. In that same study, participants were asked to read information about a fictitious employee to decide whether they should be retained. After making their initial decision, the participants were provided with positive and negative comments about the employee from "industry experts."
People high in trait ambivalence were less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias. Researchers were able to deduce that indecisive people focused more on the behavior and not the person. If someone didn't finish a project at work on time, it didn't mean that they were lazy, or if someone overrode a decision made by someone else, it didn't mean that person was insubordinate.
Indecisive people tend to be more rational.
"Although ambivalence usually has negative connotations, people who look at both sides of every issue can potentially make better choices and be more accurate by the time they finally do make a decision," explained clinical psychologist Susan Krauss Whitbourne.
Whitbourne had been referencing a 2021 study led by University of Cologne’s Iris Schneider and colleagues. While indecisive people may not make the quickest decisions regarding social situations, they tend to be more rational than less ambivalent people. There's also a good chance that indecisive people are a bit more well-informed than the average person.
So, next time you are getting grief because you can't decide where you want to order take-out, tell your dining partner to settle down. It might take you longer to decide, but when you do, it's gonna be the best meal!
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
